Intel Is Readying Its First Ever Discrete GPU For 2020 Release

The word integrated comes to our mind when we think about Intel graphics. Soon, that’s going to change. The silicon giant announced that Intel’s first discrete graphics chip would arrive sometime in the year 2020.

Until now, Intel with its lineup of integrated graphics chips hasn’t been able to make an impact in the graphics industry. Recently, the company collaborated with AMD to integrate Radeon graphics with Intel CPUs.

The latest announcement makes Intel a potential competitor to Nvidia and AMD in the GPU race. It was posted on Twitter by Raja Koduri whom Intel hired last November as Chief Architect and SVP for the then newly formed Core and Visual Computing Group.

Any performance details about the upcoming chip are yet to be known. However, according to Marketwatch, Intel is eyeing both client (gaming, professional development) and data center segments (AI, machine learning) for its discrete graphics chips, as confirmed by Intel’s VP of Data Center group Navin Shenoy.

Plans for the upcoming GPU were disclosed by CEO Brian Krzanich during an analyst event last week. According to past rumors, Intel considered CES 2019 to show off its GPU tech on stage, but the plans were scrapped off. But even the 2020 timeline seems too short for the company considering that it almost started from scratch last year.

It remains to be seen whether Intel would be able to deliver the performance and efficiency, complete with the required software and tools, at par with Nvidia and AMD which are apparently not sitting idle.